Friday, January 27, 2012

More nonsense from the past. A small publication I churned out every festive season for friends and family based on those annoying little mags that drop out of the radio Times and Sunday papers when you least expect it.

Thursday, January 26, 2012

I have been having fun trying to figure out how to transfer old 'zines and catalogues to Issuu - a site for publishing online documents of all kinds. The pdf files give me a lot of trouble - also working with Word which refuses to do anything I want it to! How do I get rid of those big borders round the edges of pages for a start? Ill figure it out eventually I expect after tearing my hair out and ranting at the PC screen for hours!

I proposed the idea of a mini mail art show on an 8 foot long pinboard for the Whitechapel Open back in 1984 and to my amazement I was accepted and the board with help from my old chum Dick Turpin was duly installed in the warehouse the Whitechapel was using that year to show the work as the main gallery was closed for some reason. I didn't have a grant of any kind to had to bare the expense of materials and postage myself which wasn't easy on the dole!The invites sent out I waited for all the mail on the theme of war and peace (or 1984 ) to come rolling in - which it did and during the exhibition , which was about a month long, I religiously took the daily mail along to the exhibition space to pin the participants work up onto the board. You can read inside the catalogue just how many and from which countries etc.

Dick's cousin or Uncle , I forget which, kindly donated the catalogue, which was litho printed in the East End of London or Barking? Anyway, totally over ambitious and a big headache at the time but I look back with fond memories of putting it all together and as I leaf through this slim volume I wonder what happened to all these people I used to correspond with?

Wednesday, January 25, 2012

Had a strange dream last night which centred around the old Southend Art School but all the tutors places were taken by the cast of Dad's Army! Arthur Lowe was teaching lithography and a squirted water in his face squeezing a sponge as I mopped the litho plate ( this did actually happen! ) and hilarity ensued. Captain Mainwairing called me a "Stupid boy!"Leo Hardy's ( the principal) was played by Godfrey. he just stayed in his office all the time and poked his head out of the door occasionally to say "O dear!" and pop back in again.Pike was teaching life class and getting very embarrassed and calling for Uncle Arthur who was the ceramics tutor I think. It all gets a bit confused and fuzzy.

The collage above is the card I made for Archie to celebrate the confirmation of his dyslexia. He's been having an ongoing test at college and at last he's found out what we all knew all along but his High School and 6th Form college failed to spot or even acknowledge! Thankfully the folks at Mid Cheshire take it more seriously. Its good to know he'll get some extra help whilst at Uni. and a free laptop and printer!

Thursday, January 12, 2012

Wednesday, January 11, 2012

Another week whizzed by or maybe two. My resolution to make one collage a day is going well. This is the latest for the Kollage Kit theme of Tigers, Lions and Bears. Do bears sit in the woods? Also completed a flick book for a project in Holland. I don't usually bother with mail art projects these days but this one caught my eye - in a few ways. Luckily a had a small book of receipts that was ideal. I traced some old zoetrope illustrations from a children's book and repeated them a few times. Simple but effective. I'll see if I can film it with the Flip camera.

No boots this weekend or any walks as the weather was a bit iffy. Today I walked into town and back. Very mild for January so surprised to find a squashed snowball on the way - maybe thrown from Norway by a troll? Bargains of the day were two tiny memory sticks from the Isle Of Man for a quid each in the Red Cross Shop. They had details of some conference or other and lots of photos of the island and hotels etc which I deleted. Also got some films including Red Dwarf series 3, The Jolson Story and The Day Today - Series One. No sooner have I made lots of space on my shelves than I begin to fill them up again!

Tuesday, January 03, 2012

Blimey- it's windy out there - a gust caught my shopping bag whilst I was trying to stick a stamp on a letter by the postbox and tipped most of the contents out onto the street where they blew in all directions! Arrgh! Mad scramble for the precious things of the bag- namely letters, bus pass and library card. Lost a few receipts and bus tickets but they don't matter too much - they must be halfway to Chester by now!

That's Xmas and New year's Eve over for another year. Back to normal now with all the decorations and cards taken down and that feeling of living inside Miss Haversham's shed elimenated.

Also had a nice walk around Shakerley the other morning to see the ducks and other bird life on the lake. No ice this year but a bitter cold wind blowing so we didn't stay long. My only NY Resolution is to produce at least one collage a day no matter how small or ill conceived it might be. Day two and two in the bag ( folder ) so on course so far - so good.

Another walk involved taking out lots of plastic carrier bags and filling them with the roadside detritus that the council doesn't pick up for some reason. We felt good about ourselves being so community spirited despite the odd looks from passing motorists who were probably responsible in the first place!

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Flobberlob

A kind of diary, a log, a ramble, nothing to do with the Flowerpot Men. My life as an artist, a collagist, a rubber stamper, a networker, a dad , a letter writer and a postcard maker. Observations about this and that in no particular order.

About Me

I grew up in the home counties around London during the 50's and 60's. Went to several art schools including Southend ,Chelsea and Manchester. Trained as a painter and printmaker but now mostly using collage. Collect novelty songs and old mail art amongst other things too numerous to mention.